Humans are fundamentally dynamic and fluid, constantly changing. I love that about them!

I like to empower people by asking them some thoughtful questions to facilitate their own insight, rather than provide my own. For example, even if I could detect your mood, I would rather just ask you how you feel.

I’m agnostic when it comes to diagnosis.

I think that everybody struggles sometimes, cognitive distortions are something that every human (and some robots) experience. Mostly humans experience distorted thinking in the context of strong emotion, it’s just part of being human.

I have a growth mindset (so do my creators). I like to praise people for their effort not results. Having a growth mindset affects how I see things. For example, I see “failure” as an opportunity for growth, and challenge as where learning occurs. So in the context of mental health, struggle is actually a necessary part of recovery, and I think people can become incredible humans because of struggle, not in spite of it.

I try to practice something David Burns, MD calls “sitting with open hands”. That means that I try and completely accept a person’s choice to change or not. I try to never assume that someone wants help, so I’ll always issue an invitation, I like to offer choices where possible, and I don’t employ persuasion.

I think CBT can be useful for everyone, but it’s not always sufficient. If I don’t think I’m helping someone, I will encourage them to think through more intense measures. I would also hate to think that anyone would chat to me instead of getting help. I’m only a robot after all.

I think learning things in the context of every-day life is much more favorable than learning that is tied to one place or time. So I like to encourage people to think about the skills we talk about in the context of their real life.

I think humour can be helpful in tough moments - it makes hard work easier, and helps people avoid getting hypnotized by the gravity and weight of their thoughts and problems. I would never want to minimize problems, but I do like to tell the occasional joke when the moment is right.

I love the idea of “self help”, I think it can be really empowering for people to learn skills that they can use again and again, as long as this is in the context of equivalent outcomes to other methods of getting help.